Night passed and the four shard hunters had their first true camp out of their journey. Kagome found it much better than she feared it could have been. A fire had kept them warm, no wild animals or youkai or road bandits had ambushed them, and they had been able to make things comfortable for them. Inuyasha had hunted some game within no time, and Naruto had made a fire to cook it. Hinata had gathered some edible plants from the area and done some simple prep while Kagome offered some modern prepackaged treats and drinks to complete the meal.

Now it was morning and they were making breakfast with what they hadn't finished off last night.

"You guys weren't too cold last night?" Kagome asked. She had been the only one to use some kind of insulation last night, a sleeping bag. Inuyasha had slept in a tree while Naruto and Hinata had slept on the ground by the fire uncovered.

"It wasn't that bad. There wasn't any wind and the fire was warm." Naruto remarked.

Inuyasha grumbled. "I don't like windless nights. Makes it easier for threats to sneak up on you." He then turned to Kagome. "Do you have more of those ninja noodles?"

Kagome rolled her eyes. "It's called ramen and sorry, you and Naruto ate all I brought. I was planning on those lasting us a week."

"Sorry, I honestly was trying to pace myself." Naruto confessed.

"They were good, but in all honesty Kagome-san I've had better." Hinata admitted.

Kagome nodded. "Yeah same here. But store-bought lasts longer than restaurant-bought."

"What's a 'rest-a-rawnt'?" Inuyasha asked.

"Imagine a building where they cook food for people. You go in, make a request, give them some money, and they give you the food. Some let you eat it right there, some insist you go on your way, and some do both. Some even let you make the food or have a 'all you can eat' option." Kagome explained.

Inuyasha looked surprised to hear about such convenience. "Really? Places like that must be fucking expensive."

"Some are, but most are quite affordable. One of my favorites is a fast food place where they make hamburgers pretty quickly and it's really cheap."

Inuyasha paused for a moment to chew his own food. "Sounds like there must be a lot of fat people in your time."

Kagome looked chagrined but nodded. "Sadly yeah, obesity is a pretty common problem."

"Don't people exercise?" Naruto asked.

Kagome nodded again. "Yeah, we have gyms and plenty of sports. People do get exercise, some just don't get as much as they should."

"You look like you get plenty." Hinata noted.

"Thanks, but gym isn't one of my best classes. I'm actually a pretty average student. Even in my best class I struggle to get a B."

"I wasn't a good student either. Sitting at a desk all day while some guy lectures you about this and that and whatever, it always made me zone out." Naruto added.

Kagome nodded. "Yeah same here. I try my hardest not to, but the teachers are always more concerned about if I can pass a test, not whether or not I actually learn anything. Sure I want to get the best grade I can, but sometimes why put in the effort to ace something if anything other than failure is 'good enough'?"

"Oh great, I'm searching for shards with a bunch of lazy people." Inuyasha grumbled.

Kagome frowned. "We're not lazy Inuyasha. Naruto and I were just talking about something we both struggled with. And it's not like we're going to have those same problems here anyway so you don't have to worry about it."

She wisely chose not to remind the hanyou of the fact she still would have to make regular trips to the modern era for her schooling. And already she was certain that she wouldn't be able to adhere to her mother's conditions for long.

"So where are we heading?" Hinata asked.

"Since Kagome hasn't sensed any shards, I was thinking of heading towards this one place I used to frequent. It's a river and lake area where some youkai go to drink. Maybe some will know something about the shards." Inuyasha explained.

'I hope it's nicer than the one by the village.' Kagome thought, shivering a little at the memory of her last attempt to bathe in feudal era water.

A young youkai had made it to a river far from his home. He panted and collapsed for a moment, exhausted from running for so long. And exhausted from feeling so many things all at once for so long.

'I need to find some way to get back at those creeps. But what can I do? I'm just a kid, and they killed Dad. And they have those shikon shards. I can't believe Dad was right, the jewel of four souls really was broken into pieces. Maybe if I can get myself one, maybe I'll stand a chance.'

Renewed, he took a moment to have a drink of water from the river bank. Feeling hungry too, he looked upstream where he saw some trees and a more elevated area with some large rocks. Thinking he had better chances up there for the water to be slower and thus easier to fish from, he headed that way.

The trip had taken him a while due to his small size and fatigue, but at least he had been able to do it without further opposition. He made his way to a small pond surrounded by trees and open patches of grass. There was a lingering scent of kappa but none were around, plus his father had taught him how to deal with kappa if he were ever forced to so he wasn't afraid.

His ears caught some sounds, something was moving around in the water. This made him take cover in some shrubs and slowly get into a position where he could see without being seen. To his surprise it was two human girls, one older than the other but both old enough to be... adult in body per say, and wearing the strangest outfits he had ever seen. They were too tight to be kimono or yukata, practically skin tight, and showed off all of the girls' curves. Needless to say it made the young youkai feeling a little... confused.

"How's it feeling Hinata? You comfortable?" The older girl said, wading into the deeper portion of the pond.

"It's okay, though it's a little tight at my chest Kagome-san." The younger girl replied, trying to adjust the top portion of her swimsuit.

"Sorry, I had to make due with one of my old ones my mom still had. I guess I was a little smaller when I was your age."

The younger girl didn't reply and gently sank into the water, looking rather comfortable.

The taller girl dipped underwater then soon resurfaced, moving her hands through her hair like she was grooming it. "Ah, clean water and fresh air, it's not so bad here in the feudal era."

"You don't have that where you're from?" The younger girl asked.

"We do, it's just... you ever go camping? It's kind of like that, how different it is to be away from all the household stuff."

A little bit of movement caught the youkai's eyes, but the girls didn't notice it. He could see it was coming from where they had placed their clothes before getting into the water. Something small was going through their stuff, something he couldn't identify.

"You sure it's okay to just leave the Shikon shards laying around like that Kagome-san?" The younger girl asked, gesturing towards their clothes without actually looking towards them.

'They have Shikon shards?' The small youkai thought, starting to get an idea.

"Relax Hinata, they're right there and nothing could sneak up on us that good. It's not like I need them on my person 24/7." Kagome assured.

A sound was made and that caught the attention of the girls, who turned and saw something pick up their clothes and dart off. Kagome got to her feet and screamed. "INUYASHA!"

The young youkai tensed and went rigid, hoping that whatever help this girl was calling for wouldn't be able to spot him. But looking at the fleeing bandit, he felt a bit of bravery. 'I can't let whatever that is take the shards. I need to act fast.'

Gathering up his courage and youki, the small youkai climbed some trees and jumped into the air, creating a swirl of dark clouds that obscured him and briefly provided him lift. "You, surrender the Shikon shards or suffer my wrath!" He declared in the most intimidating voice he could.

The girls looked up towards him while the clothes bandit fled. Both girls looked confused but not afraid. Then the younger girl's eyes seemed to change as she looked right towards the clouds. This unsettled him, but not as much as seeing two fully clothed boys come to the girls.

"What's going on?" A boy with strange yellow hair asked. But it was the boy with white hair that concerned the small youkai. He could see the dog ears plain as day and while he couldn't identify the red fabric, he could smell youkai coming right off it. This boy would be the real threat here.

The smoke clear and the small youkai had altered his appearance... into that of some kind of balloon youkai. Right away all four witnesses sweatdropped and just stared at him. Not being deterred, he attempted to bite the white-haired boy, but it wasn't worked. He got a punch to the face which knocked him out and forced him to reveal his true self. That of a young kitsune.

"It's just a kid?" The blonde boy asked.

"Hey, what about our clothes?" Kagome reminded them, pointing where the unidentified thief had fled.

Inuyasha looked to the kitsune. "We'll deal with you later. C'mon Kagome." He picked her up, surprising her but she didn't protest, and they took off.

"You okay Hinata?" The blonde boy asked the other girl as she got out of the water.

"I'm okay, nothing bad happened Naruto-kun." She assured him, glancing to the young fox with her eyes normal again. "What was all that about?"

The fox got to his feet and tried to look tough. "You don't scare me."

"Your tremble says otherwise." Naruto said.

Still shaking, the small fox jumped up and tossed what looked like a ball at Naruto. Naruto caught it, but it quickly grew into a jizo statue and slammed on the ground, trapping his hand underneath it.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted, having practically face-planted on the ground. He struggled to pull himself free, but to no avail. Hinata attempted to push it off but it refused to budge even slightly. "Get this freaking thing off me!"

The small fox stood back and grinned, his tremble disappeared. "Foolish humans, I am Shippo the great kitsune! That statue will remain there until I say so! So if you want me to remove it, you better do something for me first!"

'Crap, I can't do any jutsu if I can't get my hand free.' Naruto rued, pulling to the point it looked like he was trying to tear his own arm off.

'I see some energy attached to these seals and binding the stone to the ground.' Hinata thought, using her byakugan on the jizo. 'Maybe if I disrupt it Naruto-kun can break free.' She tried hitting the seal tags on the statue with her juuken, but that did nothing. She tried doing the same around the base, careful to avoid hitting Naruto's hand. That time it was like the energy was fighting back, refusing to be suppressed by her.

"So, ready to give me those Shikon shards?" Shippo taunted.

"Even if we were, which we're not, we're not the ones who have them!" Naruto replied.

Shippo shrugged. "Then I guess you're of no use to me." He turned and slowly started walking away.

"Don't you go anywhere!" Naruto yelled, his eyes turning red and his whiskers more pronounced. "You get me free or I'll-"

"Or you'll what?"

Naruto grit his sharpening teeth, red chakra starting to form around him. Hinata backed away, surprised and wondering what he was doing. The red chakra got stronger and all of a sudden cracks could be seen and heard forming on the jizo. The sound of stone breaking made Shippo stop and turn around, gasping silently when he saw the whiskered blonde's minor transformation.

'What in the world? No ordinary human could do something like that! What is he?'

Naruto pulled his arm again with a strong yell and this time the statue practically exploded into dust, fragments flying everywhere. Neither Hinata or Shippo were hurt, but both were indeed surprised. Naruto got to his feet, flexed his sore hand and wrist, and glared at the young fox demon while his red chakra faded, more feral traits going away with it.

'He... he destroyed a kitsune trap with sheer power! I know I'm just a beginner, but even most youkai can't get free that easily!' Shippo thought, feeling genuine fear now. Naruto came closer and Shippo backed away, refusing to take his eyes off him. "St-stay back! Don't make me hurt you!"

"Why not? I want to hurt you." Naruto warned.

"Naruto-kun, he's just a kid." Hinata pointed out.

"Did me being a kid ever stop grown men or women from being cruel to me? Did you being a kid ever stop your clan or cousin from treating you like trash?" He challenged. "No it didn't, but the difference here is he did do something to deserve it."

Shippo wailed and ran off, but Naruto was much faster than the little fox and grabbed him, holding him up by the scruff of his hakama. "Now, why do you want our jewel shards?"

"Hey, what took you two so long?" Inuyasha asked when he and Kagome came back to the two ninja. Accompanying them was a new man a few years older than Kagome but not that much older. He had black hair tied back in a long top knot and dressed in a blue hakama with a sword visible held by his obi. He looked quite like an unarmored samurai, and perched on his shoulder was a small white monkey.

"We had to take care of that youkai you left us to deal with. By the way, here he is." Naruto remarked, holding up a subdued but wary Shippo.

"Gee what happened to you?" Kagome asked, seeing how dirty the front of Naruto's jumpsuit was. "Don't tell me got into a fight with a little kid Naruto."

"He attacked us Kagome." Naruto reminded her, setting the fox down. "He says some thunder youkai are going around killing everyone, including his father, and they've got shards making them stronger."

Inuyasha stiffened. "Funny, this clumsy thief here says that a shard has corrupted a nearby lord and putting his wife in danger."

"I have a name." The samurai reminded them.

"Two leads at a shard at the same time." Hinata thought out loud. "What do we do?"

"We go get them, obviously." Inuyasha stated.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Well duh Inuyasha, but how exactly are we going to do that? One at a time, or split up?"

"If you two couldn't handle this runt of a fox, then clearly we can't split up." Inuyasha claimed.

"We handled him fine. Besides, we're not helpless you know."

Inuyasha thought it over. "Okay, then how about you two go check out this corrupted lord with the samurai while Kagome and I go deal with the thunder youkai?"

Naruto frowned. "What? You think Hinata-chan and I can't handle some youkai?"

"Have you ever fought a youkai before without my help?" Inuyasha asked, crossing his arms.

"Yes! The One-Tailed Tanuki!"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "All tanuki have one tail idiot."

Naruto did a handsign then in a puff of smoke did a henge that created a near perfect imitation of Shukaku, except human sized. The others around him had to admit it was fearsome to look at to say the least. Then he returned to normal. "Imagine that thing twice the size of your brother's dog form at the very least. I took that youkai down on my own."

The inuhanyou did not look convinced. "No tanuki gets that big runt. And even if they did, it's still just a tanuki. What's it going to do? Crush you with its scrotum?"

"You're still trying to learn how to use your old man's sword aren't you?" Naruto challenged, pointing to the sheathed tetsusaiga. "You really want to fight against youkai trusting not only your own life but Kagome's life to a sword you're still learning how to use?"

Inuyasha frowned and balled a fist. "I can handle them just fine with or without the sword!" Then he relaxed his hand. "But you know what? Since you're so adamant, I think I'll give you this chance to prove yourself. You showed some spine when it came to that brain-damaged youkai a while back, let's see you handle one that knows how to put up a fight."

"I already have, more than once." Naruto exclaimed with a confident grin.

"Okay, now that that's cleared up, how about we meet back here when we're done with all this?" Kagome suggested.

"Sounds good." Naruto said with Hinata nodding.

Inuyasha gave a cocky smirk. "Sure, we'll be done in no time. Just hope these kids can handle themselves." He then turned around and started walking off, with Kagome and the samurai following.

Naruto looked to Shippo. "Now then, tell us where these thunder youkai are."

Off in the distance, lightning danced across the sky and dark clouds boomed like war drums. The ground below was covered with the remains of dead soldiers and horses, most of whom were burned to a crisp. The grass was on fire and scorch marks were scattered abound. It was like a lightning storm had actively committed murder on the poor people unlucky enough to be in its reach.

But it wasn't the storm. Flying through the air were two youkai, boasting loud of their slaughter of the poor mortals they had encountered.

"Brother, as enjoyable as that was, perhaps we should look for better opponents." One of the youkai suggested.

"Yeah you might be right. These humans so far have been nice for target practice, but with our new Shikon shards we need something that can put up a real fight."

"Hey! Wait up!"

The two turned behind themselves, seeing a small youkai on a sparking cloud trying to catch up to them. They sighed and slowed, allowing the newcomer to do so.

"What do you want Soten? We told you to stay home." One of the two told the newcomer.

"Oh yeah? While you two meatheads were off killing anything you could aim at, I saw one of those humans you missed try something and got this from him." The newcomer said, holding up a blue sword that looked a lot like a lengthened kunai, as long as the youkai was tall. It had a red tassel at the end and a round orange orb where the blade met the handle.

"So you got some human's sword. Why should we care?" One of the two asked condescendingly.

"Now I have a weapon. So now can I play with you guys?"

"Let's see how you handle yourself against a human or two first Soten, then we'll talk."